We’re Going on a

Bear Hunt

A visual resource pack for both children and adults with Autism,

Asperger’s, Sensory Processing Disorder and any other

associated conditions.

This resource is intended to help prepare any visitors for the

show and to help them to become familiar with the

surroundings and situation.

The Show

The show lasts for 45 minutes, with no interval.

In the show there are four puppeteers and many puppets. The

puppeteers are dressed in black, but they are not hidden - you

can see them.

Music is played through the show and the puppeteers also sing

and play instruments. Sometimes the puppets or puppeteers

talk directly to the audience or move through the seating area.

For a Relaxed Performance the house lights will be left on

during the show and the auditorium door will be left open in

case you need to leave the room and have a break in the ticket

office area.

What Happens

The play is based on the book ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’, by

Michael Rosen & illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

A family set out on a beautiful day to walk through the

countryside on an imaginary ‘bear hunt’.

On the way they encounter many obstacles in their

surroundings, such as long grass, a deep river and squelchy

mud, as well as some bad weather, but they overcome each

obstacle and finally find themselves at a cave.

Inside the cave they come face to face with a real bear (played

by a puppet in our story), and race back home through all the

same obstacles with the bear following them. They reach the

safety of their own home and then realise they’ve forgotten to

close the door!

They run back to close it just as the bear gets there, and then

they all hide under the duvet, deciding never to go on a bear

hunt again. The bear wanders off alone and returns to his cave

to play with the butterflies. Perhaps he just wanted to be friends

after all?

Characters

As this is a puppetry show, the characters are

played by puppets.

The main characters are a family - here are some pictures of them:

Here is the whole family with their dog

Dad & the Dog

Big Sister Lizzie

The twins, Gilbert &

Jessie

Baby Brother Bertie

There is one more very important character in the

show….

The Bear!

Play Notes

In this section information that is particularly important such as loud noises or

flashing lights will be in blue writing.

As you enter the auditorium you will see some

scenery on the stage.

The show starts when the puppeteers march

through the auditorium whistling, then singing

‘we’re going on a bear hunt’. At the end of the

song, one of the puppeteers growls like a bear

and the others run away.

The puppeteers then begin to sing a song about

what a beautiful day it is. The dog appears and

barks at Lizzie. Then the other characters start to

appear.

The family get ready to go on their bear hunt. First

of all they come to some long, wavy grass.

As the family make their way through the

grass, the puppeteers sing a song about

‘swishy swashy grass’ and butterfly puppets

flutter in the air.

Baby Bertie hides in the grass and Big Sister

Lizzie looks for him. She asks the audience if

anyone has seen him. When she finds him, they

carry on through the grass.

The lights go down, and when they come on

again, the stage has been made to look like a

river, with noisy ducks swimming on it. The

dog barks at the ducks and they quack loudly.

Each member of the family makes their way

across the river. Baby Bertie even has a swim!

There is some music during this part of the

performance.

The lights change again and 2 seagull puppets

appear. They are a little bit noisy and the dog

appears and barks at them.

Dad appears and realises they are in some

squelchy mud. The family begins to cross the

mud. Lizzie and Bertie talk about the noise that

a bear makes – they make some growling

noises.

When the twins appear, the puppeteers start

singing a song about mud, and the twins play

in the mud.

When the mud song finishes, the lights go

down again and in the darkness some animal

noises are heard. An owl appears. The dog

barks again.

When the lights come up, Big Sister Lizzie is in the

forest. She sings a song and meets a deer.

The family walk through the forest. They sing

‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ again. A loud bird

noise startles Big Sister Lizzie and she

stumbles and hurts her knee. Dad helps her and

decides they should go home but then they get

caught in a snow storm!

The twins Jessie & Gilbert call out loudly to

eachother as they are blown around in the

snow storm. The dog barks loudly. There is

some music and singing in this scene as a

piece of snowy white fabric billows on the

stage. After the storm, the family keeps walking

and comes to a rocky place with a cave.

Sometimes the bear growls and the family

screams - this part of of the show is quite

noisy! The bear puppet is brought closer to the

audience and does some growling.

With the bear chasing them, the family carries on

back until they reach their home.

When they are home, they suddenly realise they

have forgotten to shut the door, and dad runs back

to close it just in time before the bear gets in. Then

they all go upstairs and hide under the covers.

Baby Bertie surprises everyone again by

popping out from under the covers and

roaring. Everyone laughs.

The performers sing a song as we see the bear

sitting alone in the moonlight. He is watching a

butterfly and is not as scary as he might have

seemed before.

This is the end of the play.

If you enjoyed the show you can clap your hands.

To finish off, the puppeteers sing a lively song and

play instruments while the bear puppet dances. At

the end of the song you can clap your hands again

if you like. And then the puppeteers will say

goodbye to the audience and leave the stage.

We hope that you enjoy this show at

The Little Angel Theatre!

The dog barks a little bit and Baby Bertie calls out ‘Mr bear’, then scares his

family by roaring loudly and making them jump. The performers sing a song

about the cave.

During this scene the stage is quite dark and the performers use small torches.

At the end of the song, the family discovers that they have come face to face with a

real bear who lives in the cave! They shout loudly in surprise and the dog barks,

the bear growls very loudly.

In the next part of the performance, some music is played and the bear keeps

popping out to surprise us from different parts of the stage and auditorium, the family

makes their way back through all the different places they have been to.